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\u201cThe Steuben Prevention Coalition was formed in 1991,\u201d said DFC Program Coordinator Colleen Banik<\/strong>. \u201cIn 2009 the coalition applied for and received the Mentee\/Mentor Grant and then applied for and received the Drug Free Communities Grant in 2013.\u00a0Our community is challenged by disproportionately high levels of youth usage of alcohol\u00a0and marijuana and favorable youth and adult\u00a0attitudes about its use. However, the coalition’s most significant obstacle is geographic distance. Our coalition is responsible for covering a rural agricultural county the size of Rhode Island with 13 individual school districts and a population of 97,361.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter receiving grant funding through the Community Foundation – Edith Saxton Grant, the coalition enlisted the help of our youth coalition leader Evan Czjakowski and the Dana Lyons Girls Group to identify needs in the village\/town of Bath,\u201d said Banik. \u201cThis group identified the need for \u201cDrug Free Zone\u201d signs in four parks\/playgrounds in this specific area. These students arranged meetings with local officials to discuss their proposal and ultimately presented to the town\u2019s Board of Trustees.\u00a0During this time period and engagement with local officials, two additional parks\/playgrounds were identified for a total of six.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis project allowed us to utilize CADCA\u2019s Seven Strategies for Community Change by providing information and enhancing skills through equipping youth to present their message to local officials,\u201d said Banik. \u201cWe also provided support for youth throughout the process and enhanced access\/reduced barriers by making common areas safer for our community members.\u00a0We changed consequences by decreasing the probability of substance use in these locations, changed the physical design of the environment by implementing permanent signage, and modified\/changed policies by engaging local policy makers, zoning officials, law enforcement and village & town councils in outreach campaign and approval for sign placement.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are proud of the fact that we are a lesson in sustainability at work,\u201d said Banik. \u201cWe did not receive our DFC funding for year six for 2018 – 2019, but through our coalition’s sustainability efforts with our community partners, we were able to secure funding with the county legislature and our DFC fiscal agent to continue our efforts until we could apply again in 2019 – 2020.\u00a0We have since received our year six DFC funding, however the partnerships that provided funding to maintain the coalition specifically for the gap year have now provided funding to sustain an opioid and vaping specific committee through the coalition for 2020, as the DFC only covers our challenges with youth alcohol and marijuana use.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy advice to other coalitions struggling with some of the same issues is to never give up,\u201d said Banik. \u201cContinue to engage your volunteer members, school districts, partnership agencies and most importantly, your youth.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe Steuben Prevention Coalition was formed in 1991,\u201d said DFC Program Coordinator Colleen Banik. \u201cIn 2009 the coalition applied for<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13488,"template":"","resource_type":[281],"drug_specific_issues":[],"action_to_do":[],"class_list":["post-17211","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-coalitions-online"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n